Public Advocate's Office Could Be Axed Under Council Bill

NEW YORK CITY HALL — The City Council will take up a bill that could get rid of the public advocate's job just weeks before a special election to fill it. Five lawmakers plan to put forward a bill at Wednesday's full Council meeting that relates to abolishing the city's No. 2 elected office, according to a proposed agenda.

The move comes less than two months before Public Advocate Letitia James is set to leave the job to become the state attorney general following her election victory last week.

If passed, the bill would ask voters if they want to eliminate the public advocate's office in a referendum, the measure's lead sponsor Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) said.

"The office is going to be vacant," Yeger said Monday. "Let New Yorkers determine for themselves: … 'OK, do we notice that it’s vacant?'"

Created in 1993, the public advocate's position grew out of the office of the City Council president and is generally considered a watchdog over the city government. The public advocate can introduce legislation, hold hearings and conduct inquiries into city agencies, but otherwise has little authority under the City Charter.

James is about to finish her tenure as the city's fourth ever public advocate. The other three were Mayor Bill de Blasio, Betsy Gotbaum and Mark Green.

Yeger said the public advocate's office eats up taxpayer money every year that he would rather spend on "almost anything else." The office's budget for the current fiscal year is about $3.6 million, and James' pay this year is nearly $185,000, records show.

"This is an experiment that’s literally been going on for about 30 years now and I think it’s run its course," Yeger said Monday.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson has not yet had a chance to review the bill, said Jennifer Fermino, his communications director. "He will monitor it as it goes through the legislative process," Fermino said.

Before news of the bill emerged Monday, James' ascension to the state's top law-enforcement office had already elicited a phalanx of potential candidates to replace her in a nonpartisan special election early next year.

The mayor will have to call a special election to fill the post to be held at least 45 days after James officially leaves office, according to the City Charter. The winner of the free-for-all race that follows will have to defend their seat in primary and general elections the following fall.

The wide array of candidates includes Councilman Jumaane Williams; the journalist Nomiki Konst; state Assemblymen Michael Blake and Daniel O'Donnell; Columbia University professor David Eisenbach; political activist Theo Chino; and former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer Dawn Smalls.

The race will be wide open given the size of the field and the fact that it's a special election, said veteran political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

"No one has any idea how many people are going to turn out and from where," Sheinkopf said. "The argument that just cause you did well in the last election somehow means that you’re going to win this one has no validity."

It's uncertain whether Yeger's bill will move forward. But O'Donnell, a Democrat from Morningside Heights, said there's "no question" the public advocate needs to serve as a check on executive power.

"A progressive and independent Public Advocate that fights against corruption might be what this city wants and needs, but it's many politicians’ worst nightmare," O'Donnell wrote on Twitter. "And as an established advocate for Marriage Equality, closing Rikers, and ending Real Estate’s stranglehold on this city, I can't help but think this bill to eliminate the Public Advocate's office was written with me in mind."

But Yeger said said O'Donnell's opinion of the bill was "the last thing on my mind." It's meant to start a conversation about whether the office should exist, he said, not attack anyone who's held it before.

(Lead image: Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) is the lead sponsor of a bill that could abolish the public advocate's job. Photo by John McCarten/New York City Council)